Ch. 12 The Refusal
808 Words
She pulled roots until her palms burned.
The sun had already slipped beneath the trees, leaving the courtyard silvered in frost. Her sleeves were damp. Her knuckles scraped red. The cold made her fingers stiff, but she didn’t stop.
One more. Then I can rest, she whispered to herself. She was avoiding going back to that house. Amber was adding more and more chores every time she saw her.
She had added kitchen prep to her chores that morning—punishment, but framed like structure. She was “building responsibility,” Mira had said when Xochi tried talking to her about it. No one would understand.
So, she just kept pulling.
“You missed dinner.” Brandon’s voice broke the quiet. Her body immediately reacted to the threat.
“I wasn’t hungry.” She didn’t look up. Pull, pull, pull.
“I saved you a roll.” She could smell the delicious baked bread from where he stood, but still, she didn’t turn around.
“What do you want, Brandon,” she asked with a huff. Blowing the few stray strands of hair off her face. He stepped closer, the snow crunching beneath his boots. His tone stayed soft.
“You shouldn’t have to do this alone. I didn’t ask my mother to treat you like this.”
“But you didn’t stop her either.”
That earned a pause.
“There’s been a lot on my plate.”
She finally looked at him—his clean coat, his perfect posture. Not a speck of dirt on him.
“Must be hard,” she said flatly. “Being adored.”
He crouched beside her, arms resting loosely on his knees.
“You’ve changed,” he said. “You used to talk to me. You used to smile.” Her brows furrowed. She tried remembering the last time she had any kind words with him, but her memory was foggy.
She did remember smiling at him once as a child, but he ruined it by tearing a picture she had drawn in half.
“I was seven,” she said pointedly.
He smiled anyway, crouching in front of her.
“I remember. You were always watching. Always curious. I thought—maybe you felt something, even then.”
“I didn’t.”
“Not yet,” he corrected, gently. “But you will. When you shift. You’ll see.”
He looked at her gently, his eyes tracing the lines on her face, and to her horror, they stopped on her lips. She immediately shook her head and returned to the roots.
“You don’t know what I’ll feel.”
“I know what I feel.” His voice dropped lower. “It’s real, Xochi. I don’t care what you say.” She didn’t respond, but he leaned a little closer.
“You embarrassed me in front of the whole pack. I know you think you’re proving something, but all you’re doing is hurting both of us.”
“You hurt me long before that.”
His face hardened—just for a second—before softening again.
“You don’t understand what this has been like for me. Lying every day. Holding everything together. For you.”
For me, she repeated in her head. Her hands paused. That didn’t make sense. Why would he be lying—?
But before she could ask, he shifted closer again, his face inches from hers. The shock of his proximity stilled her, like a deer in headlights.
“I’m trying,” he said. “You’re the one pushing me away.” He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. “Just stop fighting me.”
And then he kissed her.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t kind. It was too empty, too close, too sudden—and she froze.
Her hands didn’t move. Her shoulders didn’t lift. She didn’t kiss him back.
The shock stopping her brain from functioning and pushing him away.
Across the path, Byron froze.
He’d been walking from the training shed, a book tucked under his arm. He turned the corner—and stopped cold.
Brandon was kissing Xochi.
Brandon was kissing Xochi?
His stomach dropped. He didn’t speak. Didn’t breathe. He just backed away and disappeared into the dark.
It took her a few seconds to gather her wits, but eventually, Xochi shoved Brandon off her.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” she snapped as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her voice was sharp now. Clear. She wasn't tired anymore.
Brandon stood, breath fogging the air.
She didn’t say no fast enough, he told himself. She’s starting to break. Just a little longer.
He beamed at her.
“One step closer,” he whispered to himself as he walked away from her, leaving her sitting on the frozen ground.
- Writer
